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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27479263">Blades and Dice</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletAnpan/pseuds/ScarletAnpan'>ScarletAnpan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alcohol, Also Celes is an assassin too that just isn't her main job, Assassin's Creed AU, Blood and Injury, F/F, Hidden Blades, Hurt Assassins, I tried to be as historically accurate as I could please don't @ me, It's the 1500s (Almost), Murder, Worried Gamblers, smoke bombs, wound care</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:00:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,867</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27479263</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletAnpan/pseuds/ScarletAnpan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyoko is an apprentice assassin working under the Italian Brotherhood in Venice, 1498. Celestia is an informant, using gambling and relations to help craft assassination contracts to be carried out. All is well until Kyoko finds herself in on a mission far more dangerous and life-threatening than usual.</p><p>Celesgiri Assassin's Creed AU. Don't have to have any knowledge of the game to read it, I promise! Might be a series of drabbles or just a one-shot, I'm unsure.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kirigiri Kyoko/Celestia Ludenberg</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>48</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Blades and Dice</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was late afternoon, pouring into the evening as Kyoko Kirigiri found herself traversing the streets of Venice. She glanced under the hood covering her gaze to quickly observe every trader, worker, child, and guard as she headed almost instinctively towards the outskirts of the city. It looked like she kept her fists balled up, but in reality she just found herself tugging lightly on the sleeves of her shirt that poked out from the metal vambraces cuffing her wrist. She attempted to relax herself, counting her breaths to pass time for the ten minutes it took to arrive at the city walls. Once she was near the large entrance gate she navigated her way through the traffic of burdened people and wagons to break out onto the dirt roads that led any number of directions to other cities across the region.</p><p>Her mission wasn't that far however, she quickly broke off the road and crossed onto the grass fields, walking right next to the city walls. She paused a few meters right of the entrance, turning to press her back to the cold stone to lean on for a moment, as she fished through the pockets underneath her cloak to produce a small roll of paper. She unfurled it and glanced over the series of lines and phrases that painted a picture of a map. The words of a certain woman rang in her head, reminding her mentally of the vantage point to meet her target at. She confirmed that it was indeed east, and then shoved the scroll back into her pockets to fish out a pocket watch and check her timing. There was twenty minutes to spare, so she wasted no time in beginning to take the nearest road towards her destination.</p><p>She soon came upon a small cluster of houses, with a soldier’s post attached. A few guards walked about the small entanglement of civilization, most of them just sitting near the post or resting inside of it. She kept her gaze low again and continued past a house or two, over to where she could turn to round a mill, ending up on its backside. She double-checked to make sure there was no one around to see her, and then she stepped back quite a few paces, before quickly lunging forward, arms raised to catch onto the top of the window sill. She hung onto it for just a moment before pulling her knees in to push her upwards, propelling her enough to grab onto the next sill. She continued this until she got to the roof of it, then glancing upwards at the long winding chimney. She quickly observed the building of it, her eyes taking note of any uneven plaster or protruding brick that could help her scale it. It was shoddily built, however still stable, leaving her plenty of ways to reach the top. She quickly grabbed onto one such brick and began her descent upwards, until she made it to the top, balancing deftly on the rim as she took a good look at the area around her. She spotted a few hiding spots and what seemed like a decently direct spot to attack from.</p><p>She knew that likely it wouldn’t be easy for her to perform it without alerting some of the guards nearby, seeing as the area was so open, but the client was specific about not letting the target past the small settlement. Her eyes followed a guard who was rounding the building she was on, currently on the north side of it. She glanced over to the side where there was a very large haystack and turned towards it, making a leap of faith as she divided downwards and into it. She sunk into it, shuffling slightly to make sure she was properly poised underneath it. She went completely still, picturing where she was in relation to the wall and the path around the house. She listened closely for the sound of footsteps, the light clambering of metal against itself and armored boots hitting the hard dirt. It got closer and closer as she found herself able to almost exactly pinpoint the spatial location of the guard. </p><p>Once the guard was directly in front of Kyoko she lunged out from the hay, simultaneously flicking her hand to flex her right wrist and unsheathe the hidden blade. She tossed the other arm around the guards neck and pulled tightly to stifle any chance for a scream, dragging him backwards into the haystack. As she did she halfway turned and quickly shoved the blade through the hay and into his chest. She paused for a moment to feel for any kind of fight or resistance, but his body was completely limp, letting her know the job was done. She closed her eyes and prayed quietly.</p><p>“Death bring you peace,” she murmured softly, before pulling him completely into the hay. Once she had him positioned, making sure he was completely covered, she climbed out of the haystack and brushed the pieces off of her. From there she quickly climbed back atop the building, remaining on the roof rather than climbing the chimney.</p><p>It wasn’t long before a man accompanied by a more heavily armored guard began approaching the settlement. She examined his clothes and read the letter in her mind again; he seemed to fit the description.  She frowned at seeing that the situation would definitely be impossible to pull off stealthily, but at least not impossible to escape. The man continued down the middle of the wide road, steadily approaching the house she was on. Kyoko examined anything and everything she could as she waited, playing in her head a simulation of what was soon to happen to ensure she was prepared for any possibility. Once the man was a few steps away from passing her, she moved back a few paces before making a running leap off of the side of the building. Hidden blade bared she jumped onto the man, knocking him to the ground as she burrowed the blade deep into his heart as well. For a moment, time seemed to stop as she stared into his shocked, pain-stricken expression that soon subsided into a blankness. She brought one hand under his head to hold, and the other to his face as she gently closed his eyes.</p><p>“May you rest in peace,” she said quietly.</p><p>Back to the matter at hand, the guard flinched at her sudden appearance and immediately unsheathed his sword. She quickly moved off the body of the man and produced a small sphere from the bag on her hip, smashing it against the ground. Out from it thick smoke immediately permeated, completely obscuring the area. The guard attempted to cut through it but to no avail, finding it even hard to breathe for a few moments as Kyoko quickly dashed out of the field of its effect and over to the house she was perched on previously. She rounded to its back to hide, planning on running in the direction opposite of where the guard was most likely to follow. But right as she turned the corner a figure stood there, already in the middle of bringing a longsword down upon her faster than she could manageably react. </p><p>Kyoko could only move backwards, turning as she did to protect her front but unable to avoid the full length of the sword. The end of the blade tore through her light armor, slicing into the flesh on her upper arm. She suppressed a pained groan, beginning to stumble over as it threw her off balance and sent her crashing to the ground. She quickly moved to scramble back to her feet, having enough time as what seemed like another heavily armored guard took a moment to pull the blade back up. But as she came back to standing her peripherals caught the sight of two other guards on either side of her. Her heart dropped and she quickly unsheathed her own sword she had on her person, knowing that she couldn’t escape these three guards chasing her at once. They seemed both stronger and faster than than typical city guards, almost as if hired just for this purpose. But that wasn’t anything to dwell on at the moment.</p><p>The one on her right immediately went in to attack her, slicing at her side. She moved out from his swing and used her own sword to hit his, disabling his arm for a few moments. Behind her the other guard attacked and she attempted to turn and counter too late, the mace digging into her back. (Her vision flashed for a moment at the pain and she started to stumble forward but caught herself and moved forward, still aiming for the guard she had just disabled to make sure he couldn’t attack again.) She stabbed her sword into his shoulder, knocking him to the ground as she pulled it back out and went to counter the second swing of the mace. She did, meeting weapons with them and then quickly pressing forward to shove that guard away. </p><p>Although trying as she might have to get the upper hand, the guards overwhelmed her. Even though Kyoko had taken one down, the guard who had been temporarily stunned by the smoke bomb took their place. She was at least able to weaken the one with the longsword, but with every attack of her own she found herself unable to defend against the spiky bludgeoning of the mace or a sword swing that tore into her flesh. Her light armor prevented them from striking quite so deep but still she suffered too many, more than she felt she could handle. She soon realized that there was no way to overpower these guards, and though she knew the dangers of running away she had no choice. She took a moment to survey her surroundings before rushing the guard with the longsword, making him poise to strike. She took advantage of his delayed reaction time to quickly pass him and scrambled to grab the cloak that still laid on the ground behind the building. She knew she needed it if she was to get away, and began to run off in the direction that was technically away from the city. The guards quickly clambered to follow her, Kyoko moving as quickly as she could to get out of their line of sight. After a few buildings she made a sharp turn and then another and started back the way she came. </p><p>Her brain calculated the likely timing for which the guards would run past the gaps between the buildings, allowing her to move back two or so houses unseen as they passed her and kept running. With that she took a deep breath, quickly pulling on the hood of her cloak and making it back towards the city gates as quickly as she could without running, in order to avoid any further suspicion. It was some sort of misfortune that the road was rather empty, leaving her to seem incredibly suspicious if the guards finally noticed they couldn’t find her and came back barreling her way. Her heart seemed to almost beat out of her chest as her brain tried to decide what her next step was if such a thing happened, or which route she would take through the city to ensure her safety, or if the guards would notify the city guards and have them equally as suspicious to her presence, making any sort of stealth somewhat difficult. She wasn’t a stranger to being on the watchlist of city soldiers, but she could only imagine how difficult it would prove to be to avoid them in her currently injured state. Especially with what felt to be a gash in her right arm from the first blow, she knew she wouldn’t be able to climb anything.</p><p>She tried to focus on just her physical situation and escape, but other thoughts began to interrupt her focus. She had failed. She had been so easily beaten and overwhelmed. She didn’t even know how she didn’t see where the guard had come from—there was no way she should’ve missed it. But she did, and she couldn’t even defend herself when attacked. Even if it was some sort of ambush or surprise, she still should’ve seen it coming. It would’ve been near impossible to miss three of them, and how did they manage to know where she would escape to? It almost felt like some planned attempt to have her killed, but she couldn’t dwell on that when the overwhelming feeling of shame began to possess her. </p><p>She tried to put it aside and hurry forward, fighting the impulse to glance behind her. All she could do was listen for the sounds of their approach, which there seemed to be none of until she neared the gate. The faint sound of metal crashing against the ground in quick, sprint-like repetition sent a shiver down her spine as she instinctively turned to see them hurrying towards the gates. They were a few meters away so she took off running into the city, narrowly avoiding colliding into the people walking and catching the presence of the soldiers nearby. Kyoko hoped dearly that they wouldn’t focus on her long enough to pursue and found the nearest alleyway to run to.</p><p>Once there she kept moving quickly, trying to carve a confusing and illogical path to throw off the possibility of the guards tracking her. Although she was highly motivated by fear and adrenaline, both started to wear off as numbing agents as she made her way through the spider web-like footstreets that made up the city’s neighborhoods. She found her breath running ragged and searing pain raising up in too many places for her to properly place each source. The assassin was forced to take multiple breaks and lean on the wall, catching her breath as she fought the desire to collapse. It was an awful feeling. If not from the pain and blood loss, the embarrassment alone felt it could be enough to kill her. She had tried to push the thought out of her mind, but it trailed slowly back to her grandfather. It wasn’t as if she lived with him anymore—she moved away from Roma for a reason, but from just the idea she could already feel the deep disappointment. But luckily she found she was likely out of their reach, too deep into the city to be easily discovered. From there she headed pointedly towards the inner market, where she could get to proper safety. </p><p>In an alleyway branching off from the small shopping district deep within the city, filled with stands that sold fruit, rugs, weapons and clothes, Kyoko quickly made her way through it. She stopped at a somewhat old-looking door, as if it belonged to a building that was one of the first built on the block. She quickly pressed it open and slipped inside, a sigh leaving her lips. Some sliver of calmness greeted her as she was back home, back to the safety of the guild. Almost too much calmness, which completely robbed her of anything else to put her mind on and brought back the unignorable pain. She winced as she stepped forward, now taking on a slight limp what with a cut that sent spasms of pain through her right leg.</p><p>She was greeted by the open room in front of her, a large table in the middle that was embellished with fruits and weaponry, and papers of some sort. On the walls outfits and armor and special weapons were pinned, and on the sides were sets of tables and chairs to accommodate anyone dining in the area. But none of that was of any importance at the moment as she stepped into the room directly past it. In there were quite a few more tables, but this time books and papers and inkwells and a few carelessly laid weapons. There were a few chairs as well, and in the mostly personless room Kyoko found one person inhabiting a seat. </p><p>Celestia Ludenberg sat in the corner of the room, positioned at a desk in a way where she could see anyone and anything that entered or exited that space. The assassin felt a bit of relief at seeing her of all people first—she had to admit that the gambler was one of the people she knew best since she arrived at the Venice guild. They didn’t share too much about themselves, but they spent plenty of time discussing the assassination contracts and working to uncover what their enemies, the Templars, were scheming. All she knew was the gambler had years and years worth of knowledge about the guild, the entire city, and a few of the neighboring ones. She seemed to enjoy traveling to participate in certain games or events that would not only grant her more money, but also information for the guild. Kyoko joined her a few times for trips around the city and other such things, but she otherwise found herself too busy with assassination contracts to do much else.</p><p>But at the moment Celestia had been completely engrossed in examining the papers in her hands, before she raised her head to meet the assassin. She would have smiled softly and greeted her, if not for her eyes immediately viewing the utter mess Kyoko was currently in. The assassin looked both frazzled and ragged, dark red soaking the torn parts of her clothes on her arms and legs and torso. Her face was dirtied and cut as well, and she generally looked on the brink of fainting. Quickly Celestia stepped to her feet and began to hurry over.</p><p>“Good heavens! What’s happened to you?” She paused for a moment. “It wasn’t the assignment, was it?” Kyoko began to sort her brain out to reply, but Celestia just shook her head. “Nevermind that, it’s not important. Come, let’s get you taken care of.” Kyoko blinked wearily but gave a weak nod and began to follow Celestia deeper into the guild. She was helped down the flight of stairs that led into the main quarters, and then over to the main washroom. Celestia sat her down on a stool there and hurried off, returning from her own quarters with a rather sizable box which almost looked like a small chest. She quickly threw it open and gathered things from it, seeming to move from muscle memory. Kyoko found herself somewhat entranced as she watched Celestia quickly place the items on the counter beside her, except for a bottle she held onto. She turned and handed this to the assassin, who grabbed it mindlessly with her good arm, furrowing her brow a bit at not knowing what it was. “Have a few sips of that to tide you over for the time being, alright? I’ll need to heat up some water to clean those wounds and grab a few things.”</p><p>“What… is this?” Kyoko managed to get out.</p><p>“Grappa. Now hurry and drink that, I’ll be back.”</p><p>“Alright…” Celestia quickly left with a cloth in her hand and Kyoko looked down at the bottle again before remembering what she was just told. She balanced it on her leg to uncork one-handed, trying to place the cork gently on the counter. Once she managed that she brought the bottle to her lips, suppressing the desire to stop the moment she felt it begin to sting her mouth. Whatever it was, it was strong. She wondered just what Celestia had this for but ignored the thoughts as she took those few sips she was instructed to. She groaned as she lowered her head again, feeling an awful searing on her lips that traveled from her throat to her stomach. She shut her eyes tight as she felt it, along with her other wounds, burning. </p><p>It certainly didn’t help how weak she already felt, and didn’t stave off the guilt possessing her thoughts at having to be taken care of, but within a few minutes this subsided as her head started to cloud with inebriation. It at least aided with numbing the pain as she stared vacantly out of the washroom, wondering when Celestia would return. The woman in question did a few minutes later, with two buckets stacked on each other and the top filled with near-boiled water, and a bigger bottle on the other hand. She set both of those down and sighed softly, walking over to Kyoko, who raised her head in a delayed response to her presence.</p><p>“Okay dear, we’ll need to get your clothes off you.” Kyoko slowly nodded and Celestia stooped over slightly to undo the buckles under her chest that held the armor together. Many parts of it were torn clean through and stained with blood, but Celestia carefully took the pieces and tossed them to the ground. She then gently pulled off the hood that was still covering Kyoko’s eyes, finally getting to take a full look at her face. There was a small bloodied spot near the back of her scalp, but it didn’t look like anything of real consequence at the moment. She then glanced at Kyoko’s hands, still gloved. They were a dark brown leather, with a grid of small plates on the back of them—she had never seen the assassin with them off, even though she knew her better than most guild members. “You’re not hurt on your hands, I presume?” Celestia asked, watching her pick at the metal embellishment over the top of her right glove with no trouble or flinching. As she said that Kyoko glanced up and instinctively balled her fists for a second.</p><p>“No… they’re fine.” There was another pause as Celestia waited, but once she saw Kyoko had no plans of taking them off, she moved onto other things. The gambler unbuttoned and took off Kyoko’s shirt, cautiously maneuvering the sleeves off of her arms so as not to aggravate any of her wounds. It had turned into more of a bloodied rag than anything else, so Celestia tossed it aside as well. </p><p>After that was taken care of she could examine the assassin’s body, which was about as much of a mess as her initial bloodied appearance gave way to. Her eyes traced along the many scrapes, reddened marks that were soon to be bruises, and tiny insignificant cuts on her sides and arms. Celestia moved to glance at her back, seeing a much larger series of redness where there was light bleeding that obscured the view. But even through that she saw the patches where the very top layer of Kyoko’s skin had been scraped away, likely from having fallen onto her back rather forcefully a few times. What also caught her eyes was a few instances of clustered punctures that left dark trails of blood, occurring near her shoulders and side, and almost visible from the front as well. Of most importance was her arm, which was visibly sliced quite deep in the middle of her upper arm, explaining the coat of blood that ran down to her hand. Luckily nothing was actively bleeding anymore—all of the wounds were currently somewhat sealed with the dried blood around them. There was another gash, a lower one right above Kyoko’s left hip, and a light yet long cut right underneath her chest. Celestia frowned deeply, her heart hurting at seeing all the different injuries. She could only imagine the pain. </p><p>“Good lord… were you ambushed or something?”</p><p>“...I don’t know. It seemed planned,” she murmured. Celestia sighed out and walked over to the bucket of water, removing it from the bucket it was stacked on. She then reached for the large bottle she had placed down and uncorked it, pouring it into the empty bucket. Kyoko squinted to look at it, watching the dark red liquid splash into it. Celestia then turned around, ringing out the rag she had in the hot water, before pulling over a second randomly placed stool and sitting down right next to her. She then put a hand under Kyoko’s arm, gently lifting it up as she began to wash the excessive amount of blood off of her arm.</p><p>The assassin’s gaze trailed the floor as Celestia quickly soiled the rag, washing it off in the bucket again and continuing to clean away the mess of her arm. As she did it revealed smaller cuts along Kyoko’s forearm, but it wasn’t anything major enough for her to need to immediately attend to. It had also allowed her to better see something she noticed earlier. Beyond the fresh cuts there seemed to be old scarring—small, faded brown patches of burned skin. It traveled from her wrist up her arm, fading as they did and disappearing near her elbow. The gambler wondered about them but for only a moment, focusing back on the task at hand. Once the bucket was decently tinged red with blood most of it had been washed away, save around the deep cut. She went to clean the rest of it, beginning to dab the wet cloth underneath the thick crease of dried blood.</p><p>“Ah—!” Kyoko flinched harshly; the moment it touched her arm there she jumped, muffling a sudden cry and pulling away instinctively. Celestia pulled back as well at seeing her reaction. “I’m sorry…” she murmured. The gambler frowned sympathetically and sighed.</p><p>“It’s alright, I know it hurts.” Celestia turned to grab the small bottle off the table next to them. “You’re going to need more of this.” Kyoko frowned but took the bottle from her, hesitating for a moment before bringing it to her lips again. She drank more than last time, sighing out as she endured the burning and handed it back to Celestia. “I’ll take care of the others while we let that set in…” she said, reaching over to pull the bucket of red liquid she poured closer. She grabbed the cloth she left on the edge of that one and wrung it out lightly.</p><p>“Wine...?” Kyoko finally asked, breathing through the burning sensation. Celestia raised a brow at her.</p><p>“Yes, of course.” The assassin frowned deeply in confusion. “To clean it. What, do you not use that for your wounds?”</p><p>“I’m... not well versed with taking care of serious wounds,” she admitted quietly. Celestia watched her quietly for a few moments, before once again taking her arm up to start applying the wine-soaked cloth to the smaller exposed cuts. As it made contact with the first one Kyoko grumbled quietly, biting her lip at the burning sensation of it.</p><p>“I see… it’s alright if you aren’t familiar. I’d just rather none of these get infected.” Kyoko watched her silently for a few moments, before lowering her head and sighing.</p><p>“I’m sorry.” Celestia glanced upwards for a moment.</p><p>“What for?”</p><p>“I failed. I couldn’t complete the... assignment without getting hurt,” she murmured.</p><p>“It’s alright dear, there’s no way you could properly defend yourself if they planned to attack you like that.” Kyoko furrowed her brow deeper, struggling to stop thinking about how foolish she was. How pathetic it was to be so easily beaten. She knew from the start that it might have been too much for her. She knew, and yet she tried to stand her ground anyways. The thought of her awful performance hurt, but she at least found her brain becoming foggier and foggier from the alcohol. “Although, I did mean to ask you… was the target taken care of?”</p><p>“Yeah. Yeah he was… when I went to leave, his guards were behind the house I was scouting on, like they were waiting on me…”</p><p>“That’s troubling, to say the least. I should hope our client wasn’t a part of this. Though the idea of a set-up isn’t too far fetched. If anything…” She paused momentarily, her gaze trailing the ground as the cloth in her hand rested on a cut a few moments too long. “...should that be the case then I’m the one who needs to apologize,” she said, her voice hushed.</p><p>“Huh?” Kyoko lifted her head, staring past Celestia. “No that’s… it wouldn't be your fault.”</p><p>“I gathered the information.” Celestia had sufficiently cleaned all the cuts beyond the major one on Kyoko’s right arm, leaving her to put the cloth back in the bucket and reach over to grab a small jar that sat on the table. She opened it and a sweet smell caught Kyoko’s attention. Momentarily lidding it back, she also turned to grab what looked like bunches of strips of cloth, draping them over her lap. “...I arranged to meet with the client to take on this request. If there was any sort of foul play with this, I failed to ensure it was legitimate. That’s completely my fault.” She moved her stool a bit closer to Kyoko as she opened the jar again, gathering a bit of honey and proceeding to apply it to the first series of cuts, which conveniently laid near the same spot. It was a weird feeling to have the cold, thick substance on her injuries, but her brain drifted off with the effects of the second round of alcohol, making it hard to think about it or much else too deeply. </p><p>At the lack of response Celestia assumed that the brandy was doing it’s job on the assassin, and so quickly finished dressing the rest of the minor cuts on her arm. Once finished with that she straightened out the long strip of cloth on her lap, placing the edge of it near the corner of the cut highest on her forearm. She held it down and lifted up Kyoko’s arm, beginning to wrap it around the assassin’s arm. Many of them were separated from one another and were placed along the length of her forearm, so Celestia just opted for wrapping all of it, down to her wrist. Once done she secured it with a bit of adhesive she had stored in the box from before. </p><p>“Alright, that’s done,” she said with a sigh, cracking a smile for just a moment. Kyoko blinked and glanced at the arm Celestia had just wrapped.</p><p>“Oh, thank you…”</p><p>“No need to thank me, it’s fine. We’re nowhere near finished, I hope you know? I was just taking care of these so that the alcohol had time to set in before we deal with this one.” She motioned to the gash in Kyoko’s upper arm, and suddenly the assassin frowned at remembering it.</p><p>“Right… I’m sorry.” Celestia had already moved to retrieve the water rag again, coming over to begin fully cleaning it. Kyoko winced at the contact, but it was decently dulled by the inebriation. The pain she did feel she attempted to stave away by biting her lip. Though Celestia was aware of the pain and did her best to not make the assassin suffer any more, she wasn’t exactly gentle. Not to mention she had to attempt to keep Kyoko still, who didn’t realize she swayed a bit. Celestia was quick at least, Kyoko finding the bits of pain never too long-lasting.</p><p>“Once again, you don’t need to apologize,” she finally said. “How is this your fault?”</p><p>“...I could’ve ran.” Celestia raised a brow. “I had time to get away from them, I didn’t have to try to defend myself... I don’t know what I was thinking,” she murmured softly, her somewhat glazed eyes trailing the floor.</p><p>“Well, you were suddenly attacked. That’s the first thing anyone would do.”</p><p>“I had time to run after that… and I didn’t, until I realized I had no choice.” Celestia frowned and hummed softly.</p><p>“That’s understandable. When you have a few guards in front of you suddenly, the first idea is to fight them off, at least incapacitate them somehow… it is what we are trained to do.”</p><p>“We’re trained to know… when to run too though, and I didn’t even do that correctly. I completely failed.”</p><p>“Failed?” Celestia looked up at Kyoko, who didn’t nod but showed confirmation in her expression. “You took down the target, dear. That’s all the mission asked for.”</p><p>“But I got hurt. I didn’t come out unscathed and that’s not what an assassin does… I failed at being a proper assassin, I failed the assignment.” There was another pause from Celestia, who couldn’t help but furrow her brow at hearing such a thing.</p><p>“Have you forgotten? Injury isn’t considered a failure here, I really do think that must be something that only goes for the guild you came from,” she said, now beginning to tightly bandage the gash.</p><p>“I thought it was true for any guild.”</p><p>“No, each one has a different set of rules and values. All should align with the creed of course, but we do differ some ideologically.” She paused for a few moments as she adhesed the bandage, before grabbing the water rag again and moving her chair over to face Kyoko, motioning for her to sit up a bit as she began to attend to the cut under the assassin’s chest. “I don’t mean to be rude dear, but all of the Roma members I’ve met seem rather stuck-up in my opinion, save yourself; just the sort of people who look down on you for things you can’t control, or mistakes you might make.”</p><p>“I shouldn’t make mistakes. Making a mistake as an assassin can cost lives…”</p><p>“That is not the situation here, though. No one innocent was in any danger, guessing from the location of the assignment. And even so, perfection is impossible.” Kyoko frowned deeply at hearing that. “It already happened, so I wouldn’t worry about it any more than needed.” Kyoko frowned again, unable to stop thinking about the subject.</p><p>“I would just rather not cause problems,” she murmured softly. “I’m making you do this because I let myself be injured…”</p><p>“You are not making me do anything. I’m doing this because I care about you. And do you believe no one else gets hurt on missions? We don’t have near an entire wine cellar in the kitchen without reason.” The assassin raised a brow, suddenly realizing what Celestia told her. In the year or so she had been there she hadn’t realized what it implied. She simply thought the Venice branch were drinkers, although that thought wasn’t too inaccurate either.</p><p>“Oh… I didn’t think about that.” Celestia hummed in reply as she moved over to the again, beginning to wash away the blood around the gash above her hip. The gambler hid her gaze for a moment, frowning as she thought distressedly about the minutes before. </p><p>“You truly had me worried, dear,” she said, her voice quieting for a moment. “Especially with these sorts of wounds… one more serious hit and you might have fainted from blood loss before you got here. I’m just glad you are alive, it’s more than I could ask for.” Kyoko frowned, still somewhat embarrassed at her state but attempted to not think about it too deeply. She found herself going quiet, her somewhat hazy thoughts ruminating as she tried to process the idea that she hadn’t done something wrong, that she didn’t deserve to be punished—according to Celestia, at least. That nagging thought that served as her grandfather’s thought lingered over it, but she was at least able to quickly take her mind off of it thanks to the brandy. Silence was sustained for quite a while—Kyoko forgetting to respond and by the time she realized she didn’t remember exactly what was said. </p><p>Celestia didn’t mind and continued her work until most all of the cuts on her torso seemed properly bandaged. She then stood up and walked behind Kyoko to view her back again. As she realized what was ahead of her she sighed out, before glancing at the supplies she left sitting on the table next to them. Her eyes fell upon the alcohol, which she contemplated on for a moment before grabbing the bottle. She didn’t drink nearly as much as Kyoko did, knowing both that she was a lightweight and that she shouldn’t be too intoxicated while trying to finish patching her up. Once done she placed it back down, before grabbing the water rag to get to work again. But she stopped just short as she realized something—she had taken the detective’s shirt off earlier, but left the cloth binding around her chest, seeing as there were no tears to indicate there was injury underneath, except for on her back. Where skin had been torn away by the ground the cloth was torn and ripped, but there was enough of it that it wasn’t in any danger of coming apart. She frowned at the sight, ruminating over what to do. She would have to remove it, she supposed, and so Celestia grabbed the pair of scissors she had used to cut the cloth for bandaging her wounds earlier, before pausing.</p><p>“Kyoko, dear,” she began, causing the assassin to raise her head groggily. “I’ll need to remove your binding, if that’s alright. To get to the top part of your back.” Kyoko paused for a few moments, before nodding slowly in understanding. Taking that as an ‘okay,’ Celestia gently placed a hand on the edge of the bindings on Kyoko’s back, where there were no injuries, attempting to gently find a suitable spot to cut it open. Luckily it’s somewhat torn state had loosened some of the cloth slightly, just enough that she could lift up a bit of it and begin to cut upwards. The assassin attempted to stay still but grumbled slightly at the bit of pain from the abrasions in other places underneath the cloth. </p><p>Once Celestia cut through it completely the cloth fell away, landing on Kyoko’s legs. Instinctively she moved around her to grab it from her lap, her eyes trailing upwards as she realized the assassin was entirely topless now. Her face grew red and she quickly stood up to take the cloth and toss it into the pile with the other removed clothing. Kyoko wondered why Celestia suddenly jumped up, but didn’t take the time to figure it out, her gaze making its way back to her gloves as she began to fiddle with them again to pass the time. Celestia walked back over and sat down behind Kyoko again, taking a deep breath to calm herself as she focused on the assassin’s back.</p><p>As expected, it was a bit tedious of a process to clean and dress. Had Kyoko been sober it would have been much harder to deal with, what with the possible flinching that every touch might have caused. But for now the assassin simply sat there, staring blankly ahead through lidded eyes, only grumbling and twitching a shoulder slightly when Celestia was somewhat rough. Her fogged brain traveled many places but didn’t quite register on anything for long enough—her mind going back to the ambush from earlier, and then to Celestia’s handiwork, and then to what would likely be her temporarily sedentary future. The idea of having to sit around as she waited for her injuries to heal was an unpleasant one, so her mind backtracked to the person who was currently wrapping more cloth around her back and stomach. After a few moments Celestia finished the adhesive on the last bandage and stood up with a sigh. The assassin’s entire torso was wrapped with bandages, seeing as most of her back was wounded. </p><p>“Anyway, we have one more problem area.” Kyoko raised her brows again, this time in complete confusion. “Your leg, dear.” She glanced down at the large tear in the right calf of Kyoko’s pants, most of the leg of it soaked with blood. The assassin almost forgot it was there. At seeing it she went to lean over to pull up the leg of her pants, but felt a hand on her shoulder, raising her gaze back up to Celestia before she could move much. “Stay where you are; I’ll take care of it.” Kyoko blinked a few times, before processing what she said and nodding lightly, sitting back up. Celestia crouched down next to the assassin, rolling up the sleeve of her pants with a rag already ready. “After this you’ll need to rest in your room for a few days, at least until everything starts healing properly.”</p><p>“Wait, but I… I have contracts to do.”</p><p>“They can wait. And for the ones that are dated, other people won’t mind taking them.” Kyoko frowned deeply, her gaze trailing the ground. Even through her muddled state, she could still feel deep tinges of shame and frustration creep back into her mind. Celestia glanced up and saw her upset expression.</p><p>“Still though, that would put too much work on everyone else...” she murmured.</p><p>“They will be fine. I just refuse to let you try to do anything in this sort of state.” Kyoko grumbled softly, wincing a bit as Celestia began to clean the wound. “I’ll make sure everything is properly taken care of, don’t you worry.” A low mumble was received in reply. From there it grew silent, Kyoko bordering between thinking about the day’s events to not thinking of anything at all, and Celestia focusing on her task. The only sounds were the splashing and dripping of wine as Celestia tossed the rag back into the wine and began to dress the final wound.</p><p>Soon Kyoko felt the restrictive strips of cloth around her leg, the ends of it being properly adhesed as Celestia finished wrapping the wound. She blinked and she realized that the gambler was now done. She glanced down at herself, eyes running along the bandaging all over her arms. She then looked to Celestia, who smiled softly at finishing her task and quickly stood up.</p><p>“There we are. You should be alright for now.” Kyoko looked up at her.</p><p>“Thank you… you didn’t have to go through all the trouble.” Celestia frowned and crossed her arms for a second, before moving to pick up the supplies on the floor around them.</p><p>“It isn’t trouble for me dear, I promise.” Quickly she had everything sorted in the box she had produced earlier, and set it on the washbin. She nudged the buckets with their respective rags over to the side of the room, and then turned back to the assassin. “I believe we are done here.”</p><p>“Oh, okay…” Kyoko blinked for a few seconds, before leaning forward and suddenly attempting to stand. An extreme sense of disorientation, along with a cacophony of tiny both dull and sharp pains that ran all over her torso overcame her. Her head spun from both lightheadedness and inebriation, and her vision blurred for a second, making her stagger. Celestia was quick to rush forward, taking hold of her arm and shoulder to steady her before she completely fell forward. </p><p>“Goodness—! You need to be more careful, you’re hurt right now.” Kyoko blinked over and over again, registering where she stood and what she saw. It took a few quiet moments as she attempted to focus, piecing her brain back into a slightly more coherent form and attempting to wait out the flare of pain that came from that movement. She slowly raised her head and moved to stand up more on her uninjured leg, so that she wasn’t leaning so much on Celestia. “Here, keep holding onto me, you are in no position to stand on your own right now.” The gambler quickly maneuvered, picking up the arm Kyoko steadied herself with and moving it so that it wrapped around her own shoulder. She glanced up at the still slightly dazed assassin, frowning lightly. “Let’s get you to your room, then.”</p><p>Celestia guided her over to the door, moving slowly to make sure Kyoko kept some sort of balance. They made their way out of the room and down the hall, lucky that they only needed to move a few doors down. The gambler nudged the already slightly ajar door open and led Kyoko inside the dark bedroom. It seemed pitch-black but Celestia found the bed, quickly walking the assassin over to it. Kyoko felt herself bump against soft sheets of the bed and reached down to feel the mattress, letting go of Celestia as she slowly sat down. The gambler then glanced at the nightstand, seeing that she had an unlit oil lantern there.</p><p>“Here, I will be back in just a moment,” she said, grabbing it by the handle. Kyoko blinked through the darkness, watching Celestia’s shadowy figure leave quietly. Her eyes trailed down to the floor, thoughts still hazy. A few minutes later she heard fast approaching footsteps, and raised her eyes to see Celestia through the doorway. The woman stepped inside and a dim light filled the room, emanating from the flame inside of the lantern she returned with. She placed it back on the nightstand, providing a bit of light to the room as she looked up and viewed Kyoko’s somewhat blank stare. “That’s better, is it not?”</p><p>“Yeah…” she mumbled. Celestia smiled and came closer to her, lifting Kyoko’s gaze. She quickly broke her glance to look downwards, realizing she would likely be confined to her room for the next couple of days. Complete despondency would wash over if not for Celestia’s presence, and the gambler saw her disheartened gaze and leaned down to quickly and softly press her lips to Kyoko’s. The assassin’s eyes widened, but she accepted the kiss taking comfort in it. It lasted for a few seconds before Celestia broke away from her, leaving Kyoko wanting more but also aware of her compromised situation. <span>The gambler paused for a few moments, staring deep into her eyes.</span></p><p>
  <span>“I love you, dear. I’m so glad you’re okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...I love you too.” Celestia smiled softly, her gaze falling to the ground for a few moments.</span>
</p><p><span>“Well, I know you must be tired.” Kyoko grumbled lightly in reply, as Celestia approached the doorway, stopping to turn back only for a moment. </span>“Get some rest, I’ll return a little later on to make sure you are alright.” Kyoko saw Celestia’s weak smile, as she averted her gaze and closed the door behind her. The assassin was now alone. She knew she could spend her time thinking about everything that had just happened, but the gambler was right. She was indeed rather tired. Cautiously she stood up, moving over near the nightstand to pull back the covers of her bed. She slowly sat back down and moved to lay down. It was hard to move without everything hurting, and she knew that by tomorrow she would discover a number of bruises and general soreness that would make her life harder. But she couldn’t even dwell on that, seeing as it was becoming difficult to keep her eyes open. She adjusted slightly to a decently comfortable position, before closing her eyes and rather quickly passing into sleep.</p>
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